Top 10 Albums of the year as voted on by the FOT....

[Gilly]

Also the new britney spears album is pretty good. 

You think so? I like a couple tracks just like every other Britney album but I thought Blackout was really good and was disappointed to see her handlers bring her back to sugary pop.

[wwwes]

1. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
2. The Features - Some Kind of Salvation
3. Marnie Stern -  this is it and i am it and...
4. Tilly and the Wall - O
5. Beck - Modern Guilt
6. The Dirtbombs - We Have You Surrounded
7. Phantom Planet - Raise The Dead
8. The Walkmen - You and Me
9. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
10. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

[mike a]

here are mine:

1)  The Magnetic Fields, Distortion
2)  Belle & Sebastian, The BBC Sessions
3)  Vivian Girls, Vivian Girls
4)  Beck, Modern Guilt
5)  Love Is All, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night
6)  Stereolab, Chemical Chords
7)  Jennifer O’Connor, Here With Me
  Crystal Stilts, Alight Of Night
9)  Marnie Stern, This Is It…
10)  Mount Eerie, Lost Wisdom

[Andy]

2008 was no 2007.  The beck album was good (which equates to "meh." for me in terms of beck albums), but will probably make my top 10 because this year was weak.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

in no order:

1) Vivian Girls
2) Quintron
3) Hank IV
4) Cheap Time
5) Lamps
6) Mystery Girls
7) Thomas Function
Eddy Current Suppression Ring
9) Kanye West
10) Q-Tip

[Martin]

I can't believe no-one caught my shovel joke.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I'm changing my answer because I actually thought about it for a little while instead of just searching my iTunes and copying and pasting the names of ten albums that came out in '08.  Chris L, I respectfully slap you with my silken glove over the Dirtbombs' record -- "Leopardman at C&A" and "Le Fin Du Monde" are fine tunes.  Though I could have lived without that 10-minute noise noodle on side two.

1) The Dirtbombs - We Have You Surrounded
2) The Black Keys - Attack & Release
3) v/a - Love, Peace, & Poetry: Chilean Psychedelic Music (reissue comp)
4) The Black Hollies - Casting Shadows
5) Big Dipper - Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology (reissue)
6) Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Rapid Response EP
7) Santogold - s/t
8 ) v/a - Disco Not Disco: 1974-1986 (reissue comp)
9) Hank IV - Refuge in Genre
10) Cheap Time - s/t
11) v/a - Well Hung: 20 Funk Rock Eruptions From Beneath Communist Hungary (reissue comp)
12) Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07
13) Beck - Modern Guilt
14) Bonde do Rolê - s/t
15) Seun Kuti & Fela's Egypt 80 - s/t
16) Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances
17) Vivian Girls - s/t
18) Wavves - s/t
19) Metallica - Death Magnetic (yes you read that right)
20) Sir Victor Uwaifo - Guitar Boy Superstar (reissue)

[iAmBaronVonTito]

2) The Black Keys - Attack & Release
4) The Black Hollies - Casting Shadows
5) Big Dipper - Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology (reissue)
6) Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Rapid Response EP
7) Santogold - s/t
12) Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07
18) Wavves - s/t

these are also on my favorites of 2008 list. 


it was hard to make a list of favorites this year.  lots of reissues, EPs, and comps (all grey areas for me) that were good. 

[Gilly]

I'm changing mine too... sorry Andy. I spaced on a couple albums and rethought a couple.

1. The Week That Was- ST
2. Fleet Foxes- ST
3. Vampire Weekend- ST
4. Ladytron- Velocifero
5. Dandy Warhols- Earth To the Dandy Warhols
6. Rivers Cuomo- Alone II
7. Beck- Modern Guilt
8. TV On the Radio- Dear Science
9. Clinic- Do It!
10. Thomas Function- Celebration!
11. Metallica- Death Magnetic
12. Islands- Arm's Way
13. Lemuria- Get Better
14. Submarines- Honeysuckle Weeks
15. TI- Paper Trail
16. Magnetic Fields- Distortion
17. Jim Noir- ST
18. Wale- Mixtape About Nothing
19. REM- Accelerate
20. Madonna- Hard Candy

[iAmBaronVonTito]

I can't believe no-one caught my shovel joke.

"But I'm Linus, and I write for Shovel.com."

[Martin]

18. Norse Savage: Salute to Odin

[yesno]

18. Norse Savage: Salute to Odin

I did Google for it.  But then I forgot why I was doing that.

Also the new britney spears album is pretty good. 

You think so? I like a couple tracks just like every other Britney album but I thought Blackout was really good and was disappointed to see her handlers bring her back to sugary pop.

I haven't thought about it too much, and the music isn't stunning.  (Though it's better than a lot of stuff that's charting now, like TI.)  I just like how the album embraces what a pile of shit she is. 


Oh yes.  TV on the Radio:  I don't get it.  They're pretty good, but so dry and kinda boring.  I don't understand how they keep being people's top faves.  They're a "solid addition to a mixtape" kind of band.  But this from a Britney Spears fan apparently.

[Gilly]

I think it's just the year. TV on the Radio is average in my book as well but I can get through the album and I like a couple tracks a lot and the rest are ok. That's good enough for my top 10 this year.

[emdasher]

Oh yes.  TV on the Radio:  I don't get it.  They're pretty good, but so dry and kinda boring.  I don't understand how they keep being people's top faves.  They're a "solid addition to a mixtape" kind of band.  But this from a Britney Spears fan apparently.

Totally agree. I like their music well enough, but I don't find myself coming back to it very often.

[jbissell]

Oh yes.  TV on the Radio:  I don't get it.  They're pretty good, but so dry and kinda boring.  I don't understand how they keep being people's top faves.  They're a "solid addition to a mixtape" kind of band.  But this from a Britney Spears fan apparently.

Totally agree. I like their music well enough, but I don't find myself coming back to it very often.

I find myself liking their albums more after I see them live.  I think they're one of the better live bands going right now.